Wednesday, November 25, 2015

There were things I really liked about The Martian and things that started to really annoy me. Over all, it was a decent book; I can see why it was turned into a movie, and I can see why people enjoyed it so much.

Monday, November 16, 2015

The first thing I thought when I started Ancillary Mercy was, "Wow, I need to re-read this entire series." As I continued through, I began to remember more, but the urge to do a complete re-read continued. I'm just constantly amazed at Leckie's ability to balance action and politics, tea time and cuddle time. Oh, and the ending gave me everything that I ever wanted, so yeah. SPOILERS.

Saturday, November 14, 2015

Once again, I was failed to be "wowed," but the book itself was enjoyable. I actually enjoyed the other three more than this one, which was surprising, as I'd heard Mort is one of the better early books. Maybe I just need to start going in without any expectations.

Friday, November 13, 2015

While in many ways The Tombs of Atuan deals with some of the issues I have with A Wizard of Earthsea, I've never liked it quite as much. I think the themes it deals with just don't speak to me as clearly. However, it's a wonderful book, deserving of many a read-through.

Thursday, November 12, 2015

I picked this up because it contains a Stainless Steel Rat short story. What I ended up with was a mixed bag. I was definitely underimpressed with many of the stories, while a few were enjoyable. The Stainless Steel Rat story itself was nice, but couldn't make up for the volume.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

I wasn't fully impressed by this book. There were parts of it I rather enjoyed, but I didn't feel like I could relate to the protagonist, Esk, and it felt like plenty of others were just obliviously sticking their heads in holes. It's a quick read, and that's great, but if something is going to seriously try and have an agenda of sorts, maybe it shouldn't be so quick.

This time, I actually felt like I got some of the charm of The Stainless Steel Rat, rather than being left with a book that only somewhat approximated the character. Maybe the problem is that these are prequels, and he's just not "himself" yet. Regardless, this time I actually enjoyed the book.

Thursday, November 5, 2015

It's honestly hard to believe this was a book published in the 60s. I was afraid to re-read it because I didn't believe it could possibly live up to my recollections. But it did. This book is simply beautiful.

The Blogger

A life-long avid reader, especially of speculative fiction, Ryan usually has a book lying around somewhere. The child of an English PhD, he also has strong opinions scattered about. As his physical disability made it more and more difficult to partake in other forms of leisure, his childhood predilection for prose once again began to consume his life.